Unicorn (Ship)
The Unicorn-ships now seen in the known spheres are based on a one-of-kind ship called Alicorn Star (see Other Configurations). When the gnome Nimfaratillarmisarrendilon — Nimf for short — told stories of this wonderous ship most were sceptical, yet some elven engineers have gone to great lengths to recreate this ship from the scraps of papers that Nimf has provided. It was not only elves that made an effort to create a standard for a Unicorn-ship design but also some human engineers that had a fascination with unicorns. This ship design has been perfected to its current standards, but still it does not match the splendor of the Alicorn Star that Nimf provided. The typical Unicorn-ship is made of wood and some have gone so far as to enchant the ram/horn with special abilities. Keeping the ship painted white and having the ram/horn polished makes for a lot of work for the crew — after all with a ship that looks like a unicorn it should look pure and noble. For those that love weapons and find that the ship has too few, just place more weapons on the same deck of the heavy catapult and/or add more to the underside of the ship, where the legs are. Crew The Unicorn requires a relatively small crew for a ship in its size class, and will typically operate with about 25 crew, which is more than enough to handle the ship and all of its weaponry. The actual operation and command aboard a Unicorn tends to be a fairly free-wheeling affair, with even those vessels operated by the Imperial Elven Navy being fairly relaxed compared to most IEN vessels. It is surmised that the design of the ship leads it to be sought after by more free-spirited captains rather than the ship itself causing the captains to change their attitudes. Ship Uses Trader: Despite having less cargo space than many ships its size, the Unicorn makes an excellent trading vessel. This is largely due to the ship's low crew requirements, nimble handling, and ease of defense. The Unicorn is quickly becoming a popular transport for bulky, yet valuable cargoes. Naval Vessel: To date, the only military organization to use the Unicorn in any numbers is the Imperial Elven Navy, which operates perhaps two dozen of the craft in various spheres. Used in much the same role as a light frigate, the Unicorn has begun to prove its worth, showing itself to be a versatile ship capable of halndling many different combat and non-combat situations. The IEN has recently made the decision to build large quantities of the ship, with the intent that it will become one of the standard naval vessels of the IEN as it rebuilds from the second unhuman war. Adventurer's Ship: Although larger and more expensive than most ships used by adventuring parties, the Unicorn has nonetheless proved its worth for such groups. Versatile and capable of being handled by a small adventuring party along with a few henchmen, the Unicorn is still rare in this role, but is becoming increasingly popular, especially amongst adventuring groups that consider themselves to be paragons of virtue. Other Configurations Dark Unicorn: This metal Unicorn ship is painted all black by its evil captain and plies Realm space for its victims. The captain is said to be a red wizard from Thay (where wizards are said to have performed horrid experiments on living unicorns with an injection of demon blood to corrupt them to evil). The heaviness of the metal hull limits the Dark Unicorn to land only on land (it too heavy to land in water... it would sink under the waves), but increases the AC to 5 and lower to MC: D. The Alicorn Star: The one and only Alicorn Star is a centaur-built and crewed ship, and is fashioned from living wood: the vast majority of the hull is a single, living piece, and to an extent is self-repairing. Metal fittings, bracings, and the piercing ram are bonded magically to the hull, and give a +2 enhancement bonus its armor class. Unlike the Unicorn-ship the Alicorn Star has four main deck levels, three above the gravity plain and an inverted deck below the gravity plane, which is also the water-line when landing in water. When the ship is sailing on a calm waters of a lake, the unicorn's lips just clear surface of the lake. The lower deck has emplacements of two forward heavy ballistae in the knees. The ship's bridge is situated at the rear of the highest deck, behind the catapult. Everything is scaled for centaur usage, and the weapons take correspondingly less crew to operate (suggest half human compliment). Due to the fact that the Alicorn Star is built to centaur-size its ceilings are 12 feet tall and has a keel length of 240 feet and 55 feet beam. The Alicorn Star is close to 100 tons in size. The inverted deck is accessed by a ten-meter "hole" traversed by a bridge that corkscrewes 180', centered on the gravity plane. There were also "tunnels" in the forelegs allowing access to the knee ballistae. During water landings these were sealed and inaccessible. The ship's power source is actually a living creature, called a Kara. Kara are non-corporeal energy creatures able to survive in both Wildspace and the Phlogiston. They don't usually fraternise with organics, but the Star's Kara, nicknamed Beauty by the crew, is blind, at least in regard to a normal Kara's poly-dimensional senses. Vulnerable, she serves to move the Star in exchange for its physical security. A helm is needed: a mage wearing an artifact called the Crown of Seeing. This extends a mage's senses and facilitates a telepathic link with Beauty, essentially enabling her to function with full vision. But in most respects, treat it like a normal spell-jamming helm. Beauty resembles a spinning sphere of glowing rainbow energy. Some 30' in diameter, she occupies a large multi-deck spherical chamber in the ship's "hind-quarters". Captian Satin Truebolt, an imposing centuar captian, pilots her vessel mostly in Truespace.